6.04.21 – APFA ORD Base Brief – July 2021 Allocations

Friday, June 4, 2021

Hello ORD! We hope you found time to enjoy the Memorial Day holiday weekend, despite the chilly weather in Chicago. We welcome back those returning from Extended Voluntary Leaves of Absence (EVLOAs). Summer travel is ramping up. This is good news for the airline industry, but also brings its own set of challenges in the airports and onboard the plane.

APFA continues to work closely with the FAA and the Company to address the number of verbal and physical altercations Flight Attendants experience. Mask non-compliance remains unacceptable. APFA is happy to report that we have successfully further delayed the return of alcohol sales in the main cabin.  See APFA Hotline: Return of Alcoholic Beverages Further Delayed

Gate Agent Staffing Changes

On June 1, the Company started staffing gates with one gate agent for domestic flights with a scheduled load factor of 80% or less.  We will monitor how this impacts our crews. Departure Dependability Briefings will help keep everyone on the same page regarding boarding.

Early Boarding

Now more than ever, we all need to pay attention to contractual boarding times. A crew needs to be ready and able to accept passengers on the aircraft based on the JCBA Section 11.M and Section 14.F.

If you are on a sequence and experience a violation with early boarding, please complete an Early Boarding Violation Form. If you have time, take a screenshot of the C- text.  This report shows when boarding started. You can upload this into the Early Boarding Violation Form. You can find the C-text in mobileCCI by clicking the flight in question > pre-flight documents > scroll down to the Passenger section > C-text.

Daily Ops

If you experience a safety or security event while on duty or on your layover, Daily Operations is there to support you 24 hours/7 days a week.  A CERS should be written for all safety/security incidents. When situations need immediate assistance, you should contact Daily Ops directly at 682-315-7070.

July Critical Period

When bidding for July, please be aware that July has a “critical period” from July 1-7 when it comes to attendance.

Flight Attendants that work all operational assignments (sequences, airport standby assignments, Reserve Availability Periods (RAPs), and special assignments) on days during this critical period, will be eligible to receive an incentive point.

Allocations

The July staffing call was yet another disappointment from the Company. The job hours increased slightly, which is good news on the path back to normal. The Reserve numbers and line averages continue to be a point of contention between APFA and the Company. The July target  line average is 85.4, which is higher than the system average of 84.9 hours.  With such a high line average, PBS might not be able to balance the requests for high and low time fliers. So if bidding low time, keep in mind you may want to expand your target credit range (TCR) to allow for more hours. This can help avoid the system simply giving you the line average. Page 55 of the PBS Guide explains TCR more in depth.

Setting a high target average may force low time fliers to hold more hours than they want.  Considering the Company restricted summer vacations, the potential denial of low lines will be frustrating for people requesting lower line averages.

Considering how grossly inflated the Reserve numbers were for June, we were hoping the July Reserve numbers would be more reasonable, unfortunately that was not the case. While our Reserve percentages are lower than the system average, they are still excessive. The Company continued to use the same excuse as they have the last few months, but provided very little data to back up their claims. We were very clear on our view that the numbers are excessive. The Company did not make any adjustments to the numbers after the call.

The systemwide job hours continue to increase month over month. ORD July 124,685  versus June 123,662, an increase of 1,023. We have come a long way since July 2020, when the hours were only 51,000.

MSP hours are consistent with the hours for June. July hours are 1,389 vs 1,355 for June.

The ORD trip distribution for June matches closely with the systemwide distribution.  1-day sequences are not as high as we like, but are consistent systemwide. There is an increase in both NIPD and domestic 4-day trips, we continue to ask for the 4-day trips to be commutable. We will monitor how the increase in 4-days impacts Flight Attendants ability to trade and the impact on open time, as we know not everyone prefers such lengthy trips. The number of ODANs are reduced slightly, to 4.5 starts per day vs 7.2 for June.

The country requirements for COVID continue to frequently change. If you are working an international trip, keep in mind Comply365 provides destination specific information.

The newest destination that updated COVID requirements is Athens. As of June 3, you will be required to have a negative COVID test completed prior to departure or have your vaccine card uploaded in Comply. If working this trip and have any questions, be sure to review in Comply365 or reach out to the Manager on Duty (MOD) or your Flight Service Manager (FSM).

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Remaining July Bidding Timelines

Thank you for your hard work and commitment to safety. We remain available for questions and feedback. Be kind to one another. Stay safe.

In Solidarity,

Susan Wroble
APFA ORD Base President
(630) 802-2268
[email protected]

Dray Howard
APFA ORD Base Vice President
(630) 215-8410
[email protected]

Justin Patterson
APFA ORD Base Council Representative
(509) 720-0067
[email protected]